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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bay · capital · spell · staff · stock · pop · wound · content

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. content — happy
  3. bay — a part of the sea
  4. pop — to visit
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. spell — magic
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. spell — letters
  10. staff — a stick
  11. capital — money
  12. wound — an injury
  13. content — the amount
  14. staff — employees
  15. wound — an injury
  16. stock — shares
  17. stock — goods
  18. pop — soda
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. capital — a city
  21. bay — to keep at bay
  22. staff — employees
  23. pop — music
  24. spell — a short time

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com